Look Who it Was Random video

Oral History of Daniel Hannaby

861 views · Published 16 September 2015 · 2:27:05 · Indexed 24 October 2026

Channel: Computer History Museum · 2015 · Science & Technology

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Interviewed by Julien Mailland and Marc Weber, on March 20, 2015 in Mountain View, California, X7439.2015
© Computer History Museum

In 1983, France launched Minitel, a videotex system that quickly became the world's first successful mass-market retail online ecosystem.  With Minitel, France became the world's most connected country and remained so until html, Mosaic, and the Internet became  over public 10 years later.  While the Minitel story is one of a statist network, it is also one of bubbling, ingenuous young private entrepreneurs who provided the ecosystem's services.  Before there was the dot.com, there was Minitel Rose, the "Pink Minitel," a world of sexy, edgy, completely anonymous, liberated chat over the messageries (chat rooms).  A world of digital experimentation, at a time where online business and social life were unchartered territories.  

Daniel Hannaby was one of those entrepreneurs.  At the time a student, the future med-school dropout - and self-taught programmer - co-founded "3615 SM," a Pink Minitel service which quickly became a leader in the Minitel ecosystem and grew into a multi-faceted online business.  Hannaby's story takes us through the excitement of the times, the vicissitudes of entrepreneurship, the successes and failures of experimentation, and the philosophy behind - and rewards of - helping human beings connect and communicate.

This two-and-a-half hour interview of the Minitel services pioneer spans a ten-year adventure and provides us with food to reflect on the subsequent dot.com era and on what could make a future internet business, a good business.

Interviewed by Marc Weber and Julien Mailland, on 2015-03-20 in Mountain View, California

Lot Number: X7439.2015
Catalog Number: 102740035

© Computer History Museum

* Note:  Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102740083

Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection.

Lot Number: X7439.2015
Catalog Number: 102740083

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